Canterbury not outplayed in basketball tournament

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32053, 30 July 1969, Page 15

Canterbury not outplayed in basketball tournament

'A N enterprising Canterbury team had to be content with third place in the inter-provincial men’s basketball tournament at Palmerston North last weekend. But there was no cause for despair. It ended the two-day competition with a satisfying 48-47 win over the favoured Auckland side and was unlucky to be beaten by Palmerston North, 80-74, in the previous game. A win would have given it second place over alt

Canterbury’s biggest loss was on Saturday against the eventual tournament winner, Wellington, which is regarded as the strongest North Island team this season. After a dreadful first half, it was beaten 84-50.

In that game, Canterbury lost its vice-captain and former New Zealand representative, C. Morris. He injured a leg while attempting an interception. He left the court with less than half the game gone and was taken to hospital for treatment He will be unable to play again for at least three weeks. Morris injured his other leg at an earlier tournament and this was only his second representative game since.

In the first half, Canterbury appeared to lack confidence in its ability and its ball handling was weak. At half-time it was down 15-44, and seemed to be heading for a thrashing. Fortunately,

the team’s attitude changed after the break and it almost held its own. Wellington scored 40 points in that spell, Canterbury 35. The former New Zealand representative, A. Bland, recently returned after several years in Australia, was outstanding for Wellington. He scored 34 points, many of them from simple blocking and rolling and is clearly a leading candidate for this season’s national squad. Canterbury’s top scorers were A. Hounsell with 14 and P. Stigley with 12. Against Palmerston North, Canterbury looked much more efficient. Palmerston North led, 39-36, at half-time but it had to fight for every point. The second half was just as close and when the final whistle went Palmerston North was still ahead by six points.

Both teams played basketball of a high standard and the result could have gone either way. The Canterbury captain, J. Culliford, played brilliantly, scoring 26 points. He completely outplayed his Palmerston North marker, scoring freely from drives and cuts. Unfortunately, he was fouled out with five minutes to go and this probably cost Canterbury the game.

Palmerston North’s most impressive performer was the young 6ft sin forward, R. Philby. He too, scored 26 points, and obviously has a bright future ahead. Faced with Auckland only 70min later, Canterbury’s chances of victory did not appear great Auckland was refreshed after a three-hour break but surprisingly it was Canterbury which set the pace. Led by I. Day, who played easily his best game for the province, the team was ahead 29-19, at half-time.

As the second half progressed, however, the team began to feel the effects of its earlier encounter and Auckland began to narrow the margin. With barely half a minute to go, the scores were level at 46-all and the Canterbury players, almost dropping from exhaustion, seemed as good as

beaten. But they gamely rallied to score one more basket It was just enough. Auckland had two free throws but scored from only one.

In this match, Day took over the role, Culliford had played against Palmerston North, shooting brilliantly off the drive and cut His defence was sound and he was easily the outstandingplayer of the game. Looking at the over-all picture, Canterbury did all that was expected of it and must now face the national tournament in September with a reasonable measure of confidence. It will obviously have to improve its depth of shooting if it hopes to win but definitely has the ability to finish in the first three.